As an assistant professor of Practical Theology I teach Pastoral Care and Homiletics at the Protestant Theological University in Groningen, The Netherlands. I contribute to the international program ‘Missional Communities’. My research interests include soulcare, spirituality and preaching. I coordinate the (Dutch) post-doctoral program ‘Societas Doctorum Ecclesiae’ of the PThU, a program that stimulates PhD-graduated theologians employed outside the university in doing academic research. I am international secretary of Societas Homiletica.
From 2007-2015 I served as parish minister in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands two congregations in The Netherlands, Langerak ZH (2007-2012) and Dirksland (2012-2015).
PhD in Theology, 2010
Protestant Theological University, Utrecht
MA in Theology, 2001
Utrecht University
A reassessment of the soul as central idea in pastoral care theory and practice.
NCLS (Church Life Survey) gathers large datasets from a wide array of perspectives from Christian communities. In this project I design a module on pastoral care in parishes to study quantitative data on the type of pastoral care that is offered in congregations and how pastoral care is evaluated by respondents. NCLS is an Australian research model.
This international project develops and researches a method for spiritual formation in pastoral care in the parish. The project is a collaborative effort with practical-theologians from Australia, Scotland, South-Africa and The United States. I respresent the Northern European context.
SDE is a special post-doctoral project at the PThU. Theologians outside the university (such as church ministers holding a PhD) co-author scholarly articles with faculty members of the PThU. The program is recognised as continuing education program in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. The program is currently in Dutch. I coordinate the project.
The aim of the Dutch Case Studies Project is to produce and evaluate case studies that can aid in the identification of good practices in chaplaincy care. I contribute to the project by co-leading the researh community for Military Chaplaincy.